Southern Skywatch April 2022 edition is now out!

Morning sky on Saturday April 30 as seen from Adelaide at 5:55 am ACST (60 minutes before sunrise). Venus and Jupiter are very close.  

 Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise), click to embiggen.

The April edition of Southern Skywatch is now up. The planetary action is in the morning sky with four bright planets, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter in the morning sky.

April 1; Mars, Saturn and Venus form a line in the morning twilight.  April 1; New Moon. April 4, daylight savings ends. April 5; Saturn and Mars very close. April 8; apogee Moon. April 9; First Quarter Moon. April 13; Neptune and Jupiter at their closest. April 17; Full Moon. April 23; Last Quarter Moon. April 20; perigee Moon. April 25; the crescent Moon is close to Saturn. April 26; the crescent Moon is close to Mars. April 27; the thin crescent Moon is above the pair of Jupiter and Venus. April 28; the thin crescent Moon is below Jupiter and Venus. April 28; Venus spectacularly close to Neptune. April 30; Venus and Jupiter close.

Mercury  returns to the evening sky late in the month but is barely visible above the horizon deep in the twilight.

Venus starts the month in a line with Saturn and Mars, with Jupiter below, easily seen an hour before sunrise. Venus sinks towards the horizon over the month for a close approach to Neptune and Jupiter.
On the 28th Venus is a mere 14 arc seconds from Neptune, this is a telescope only event best seen around 5 am from Eastern and central sites, sadly Venus does not rise in WA until after closest approach. Venus is a gibbous phase in telescopes. 

Venus and Jupiter continue to come closer and on the 30th the pair are just 1degree (one finger width) apart. On April 27 the thin crescent Moon is above the pair of Jupiter and Venus. On April 28 the thin crescent Moon is below Jupiter and Venus.

Mars is high the morning sky in April, Mars makes an attractive line with Venus and Saturn at the beginning of the month, and is readily visible an hour before sunrise, above bright Venus and dim Saturn. Mars’s reddish colour contrasting with the yellowish colour of Saturn and the bright white of Venus. 

Mars comes close to Saturn in the early part of the month, the pair are closest on the 5th and 6th, being 0.5 deg (half a finger-width apart, they will fit easily into medium power telescope eye pieces. Mars then leaves Saturn behind as Saturn rises higher in the morning sky. On April 26 the crescent Moon is close to Mars.

Jupiter continues to rise higher in the morning sky, although it is not a good telescopic target most of this month. On the 13th Jupiter is 0.1 degree from Neptune, the pair easily fit into the field of view of medium sized telescope eyepieces, but with Jupiter fairly low to the horizon this may be difficult to view. On April 27 the thin crescent Moon is above the pair of Jupiter and Venus. On April 28 the thin crescent Moon is below Jupiter and Venus. On the 30th Jupiter will be 1 degree from Venus, and even closer on the 1st of May and reasonably well placed for telescopic viewing.

Saturn climbs higher in the morning sky and is readily visible an hour and a half before sunrise. Saturn is a worthwhile telescope object this month. Mars come close to Saturn in the early part of the month, the pair are closest on the 5th and 6th, being 0.5 deg (half a finger-width apart, they will fit easily into medium power telescope eye pieces. Saturn then leaves Mars behind as Saturn rises higher in the morning sky. On the April 25 the crescent Moon is close to Saturn.

Moon: April 8; apogee Moon and April 20; perigee Moon.